When people work together for any reason, they need to be able to share their thoughts with each other. Before everyone had a computer on his or her desk, this would involve circulating a paper copy of the materials, so that each person could comment on the materials. For example, one person would draft a document, and circulate it to the other members of the group. Each member would, in turn, read the document, add their comments, and make changes. But while the last person to review the draft would see the thoughts of all the other members of the group, the first person to review the draft would not have any insight into the thoughts of the other group members.
The introduction of desktop computers sped up this process, but did not otherwise enhance it. For example, the document could be circulated electronically, rather than on paper, with each person making changes and forwarding the electronic draft to the next person. The document could also be stored in a central repository (for example, on a disk on a networked server, that everyone could access), allowing the members to edit a single copy electronically at their convenience. This approach avoided the problem of members having to wait until the draft was forwarded to them personally for review.
In fact, the use of computers might have encumbered the process. For example, the person who drafted the document could electronically forward it to each member of the team. Each team member could then review the draft and return their thoughts to the originator. But in this model, only the originator of the document saw everyone else's thoughts; no other members were privy to the thoughts of other members about the document.
Other electronic models have been developed that essentially mirror the “store and forward” model, but without requiring a set list of members. For example, computerized bulletin board systems allowed any person who could access the system to comment on anything within the system. These models have developed into modern tools, such as blogs and social networking systems like Facebook® and Twitter®. (Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.; Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc.) But all of these models, like the original “store and forward” model, suffer from the same problems, in that they are somewhat one-directional and “call and response” in nature.
A need remains for a way to address these and other problems associated with the prior art.